Following along the coast Clovelly is set into a steep hillside with a single cobbled High Street winding down the hillside to the ancient harbour, through traditional whitewashed cottages festooned with fuchsias and geraniums. Traffic is not permitted in the village apart from the top of the hill, but for a fee there is a vehicle service to take visitors up and down the steep hill via a back road. Donkeys used to be used but are now kept for rides during the summer.
When visiting the village be advised to wear sensible footwear as the only street is steep and can be slippery. The cobbled street is made from the pebbles moved from the beach so is very uneven, this being the reason why the street itself is not suitable for wheelchair users; however the visitors centre, donkey stables and other attractions at the top of the village are wheelchair friendly.
There is a hive of activity throughout the year with many aspects of visitor entertainment. Boat trips can be taken around Bideford Bay or further to Lundy Island & fishing trips are available, with rod fishing being popular. Locally caught lobster and crab can be found in the local restaurants. Much may have changed over the years, but you will find that Clovelly is well worth a visit. For theme park DAY OUT the Milky Way Theme Park can be found on the A39 at Higher Clovelly.
Hartland Point is an unspoilt peninsula that is a haven of peace and tranquillity in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Set against the spectacular Atlantic coastline to the west and the Bristol Channel to the north, the seventeen thousand acres of the Hartland Peninsula offers a landscape of wonderful contrasts with open moorland giving way to coastal waterfalls tumbling from hanging valleys onto rocky shores. These meandering valleys afford shelter from the prevailing winds to create micro-climates which support an abundance of fauna and flora.
From Hartland village the road winds past Hartland Abbey through
the small hamlet of Stoke, and eventually to Hartland Quay. There is a steep tarmac approach road for vehicles, or when the road walked is perfect for photographing Bideford Bay and the famous jagged Hartland Rock formations. The Hartland Museum exhibits photographs, paintings and relics of smugglers, shipwrecks, fishing etc. At low tide the sheltered cove exposes interesting rock pools and a sandy beach accessed via the slipway. Twenty minutes walk south of Hartland Quay is Spekes Mill Mouth, the most spectacular waterfall on the North Devon Atlantic Heritage Coast. It is also a short walk to Blackpool cottage, the setting for the BBC’s recent adaption of Sense and Sensibility.
Further down the coast toward Bude there are many villages, hamlets, coves & small beaches, such as Milford which is home to the famous Docton Mill Gardens and has a unique access to the coast. A few miles south is Hardisworthy and South Hole. Welcombe lies on the Atlantic Coast midway between Bideford and Bude. The village sits astride a deep valley which leads a meandering stream to the cliff edge at Welcombe Mouth where it ends in a picturesque waterfall. This is a popular holiday destination where visitors return year after year. Travelling inland via Meddon and other equally attractive rural Devon villages are the Putford villages, at West Putford is the four acre Gnome Reserve.
Going south on the A388 there are numerous villages and hamlets to discover such as Petrockstowe home to Baxter Hall and nearby is the Halsdon nature reserve with paths through woodland, riverside meadows, the deserted ruins of a water-mill, and a fine stretch of the River Torridge. From here the Torridge flows south eastward and beneath Kesmeldon Bridge where tradition says the first pipe of tobacco was smoked by a mariner who was in Sir Walter Raleigh’s first expedition to Virginia.
Bradworthy is said to have the largest village square in the Westcountry, and Pancrasweek was said by Miss M. P. Willcocks as being as ‘full of the romance of the past’ in her novel ‘The Great North Road’. Near here are the Tamar Lakes with a bird sanctuary and is popular with anglers.
Great Torrington is a friendly, welcoming town, set in the midst of rolling, unspoilt green countryside, with an inland cliff top and cliffs that drop down to the River Torridge below. These spectacular views and the wonderful landscape has remained practically unchanged since Henry Williamson wrote his classic novel “Tarka the Otter” in the 1920’s.
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